The novice writer Vasil Safonov and his friend, the cashier Apollon Kazachkov, become regular guests at the local casino. Their gambling habits lead them to unwittingly squander state funds. Initially, Kazachkov manages to return the wasted money, but his passion for gambling consumes him, and he loses every penny. This leads to his arrest, leaving Safonov in a desperate situation. Soviet youth, including Muscovite Reztsov and the Komsomol girl Marusya Kostova, come together to help Safonov find his way back on the right path.

The protagonist, a lazy pen-pusher, gets the sack for his bureaucratic idleness, and learns that the way back into the job market depends on getting a letter of recommendation from a "grandmother"

Docu-drama about political and military conflict during the Russian Civil War in 1918, from an orthodox pro-Communist viewpoint.